- By Vivek Raj
- Wed, 15 Nov 2023 02:47 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Sahara Supremo Subrata Roy on Tuesday breathed his last in Mumbai due to cardiorespiratory arrest, after battling a prolonged illness arising from metastatic malignancy, hypertension and diabetes. He was 75. With the death of Subrata Roy, known as Sahara Shri among the Sahara group, the spotlight returns to the undistributed funds exceeding Rs 25,000 crore held by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
His group faced regulatory and legal challenges related to allegations of bypassing regulations with Ponzi schemes, which Sahara consistently denied. In 2011, SEBI directed two Sahara Group firms, Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIREL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL), to refund funds raised through Optionally Fully Convertible Bonds (OFCDs) to nearly 3 crore investors.
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Despite numerous legal proceedings, the Supreme Court upheld SEBI's order in 2012, requiring Sahara to deposit an estimated Rs 24,000 crore with SEBI for further investor refunds.
The latest annual report from SEBI reveals that Rs 138.07 crore has been refunded in over 11 years to investors of the two Sahara Group firms. However, the amount deposited for repayment has risen to over Rs 25,000 crore, with a minimal increase of Rs 7 lakh in the last fiscal year.
SEBI received 19,650 applications involving 53,687 accounts by March 31, 2023, but the remaining applications were closed due to untraceable records from the Sahara Group.
On the orders of the Supreme Court and SEBI, Rs 15,646.68 crore were recovered by March 31, 2023. This amount, along with accrued interest after eligible bondholder refunds, was deposited in nationalised banks, totalling around Rs 25,163 crore as of March 31, 2023.
The government initiated the refund process for Rs 5,000 crore in August, targeting depositors in Sahara Group's cooperative societies.
In March, following a Supreme Court order, Rs 5,000 crore from the Sahara-SEBI refund account was directed to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS). The Centre launched the 'CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal' in July, aiming to return funds to around 10 crore investors within nine months.